


Meeting of the Minds

by oceanofcreepy



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Sherlock's POV, gratuitous snuggling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-22
Updated: 2013-09-22
Packaged: 2017-12-27 07:39:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/976188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oceanofcreepy/pseuds/oceanofcreepy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sherlock and Jim lay in bed and discuss what it means for people like them to be affectionate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meeting of the Minds

They didn’t lie like this very often.

Actually despite settling into something that was just easier to call a “relationship” to everyone else, they hardly even saw each other. Usually they were possessed by some frenetic energy that propelled them through their lives to seek new things to hold their interest. When those things gave up their mystery and gradually became understandable, and those things always did, they found themselves together.

Every time they wondered why they had stayed away for so long, but all the same they still went off on their own once something new to catch their interest presented itself. Neither of them were upset or offended when the other would disappear to chase their most recent fascination. If either of them ever felt that remaining in the same physical space was more important than understanding their latest passion, then whatever it was that held them together would have died right there.

“Move your arm.”

“Hmm?”

“Open your arm wider. I can’t fit in that space.”

Sherlock found this request a bit strange. Even when they were together they didn’t sleep in the same bed and they didn’t even sit on the couch together very often. An insolent and lazy part of him wanted to rib Jim and tell him to pick his arm up and position it how he wanted. He was always the lazier one of the two of them. Teasing Jim to get things for him that were within his own reaching distance. Jim never took the bait though, and typically gave him a sneer at these indolent requests.

“It’s taking more effort for you to ask me and hold out your hand like that than it would for you to just get it yourself.”

And Sherlock would chuckle, because usually it _was_ taking more muscles to both speak and hold out his hand for an extended moment than it would for him to just grab the thing himself.

Neither of them were usually ones for physical displays of affection, but when Jim made a request it was rare for Sherlock to refuse. Sherlock extended his arm out further and Jim fit himself into the negative space. Jim just lay there resting his head on Sherlock’s shoulder with his arms wrapped around himself.

“What’s prompting…this?” By “this” Sherlock was referring to the unusual arrangement of them lying on his bed together and Jim requesting to lay next to him like he was.

“I guess I just feel affectionate tonight. _Darling._ ” Now it was Jim’s turn to rib Sherlock. Whenever Jim rolled out a conventional term of endearment in a conversation it was usually a sign he was trying to get a rise out of him. Sherlock never gave him the satisfaction though. “For someone who prides himself on his ability to read people, I would have thought all the evidence that I’m feeling affectionate tonight was all there.”

Not allowing the prickle of irritation at being called “darling” to show in his voice he said, “of course I could tell you were feeling affectionate. What I’m asking if it isn’t _obvious_ to you, is what is the cause of this sudden rise in your desire to express your affection towards me.”

Jim shifted and moved his right arm that had been draped over his stomach to rest on Sherlock’s. “We’re both so much about our _minds_. It’s how we understand the world. However, occasionally I think I understand the needs of the body and the effects the body can have on the mind better than you.”

Sherlock doubted it. Of the two of them he was the one knowledgeable of anatomy, biology, chemistry and other sciences related to the function of the body. Jim’s main interest was maths, logic and computers. Why would he be better positioned than himself to understand the needs of the body and its effects on the mind? He decided to go along with Jim’s line of thinking anyway. Sometimes Jim surprised him with the arguments he could construct and the conclusions he reached. Jim was probably the only one who ever reached conclusions he didn’t already see coming.

“And what does that have to do with your desire to be affectionate?”

“Most of the time, almost all of the time, I find our _meeting of the minds_ to be all that I need.”

Sherlock’s brow furrowed at the legal term initially, but after a moment of thought found it to be an interesting way of describing them. The meeting of the minds, when two parties to an agreement both have the same understanding of the terms of the agreement.

He let Jim continue.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be that kind of person who needs constant physical affection, I know you’ll never be that kind of person.”

“But?”

“But not needing constant physical affection isn’t the same as not needing any. I know you don’t need it, but sometimes I do.” Jim moved now so that he was looking at Sherlock’s face. “But I’m not terribly interested in most of the ordinary displays affection.” He gave a sigh. “For a while now, I’ve wanted to come up with a way of expressing physical affection that honors the thing I appreciate the most about you.”

“My mind.”

“Yeah doofus.”

Sherlock thought about it for a minute. Was there any physical act that would feel intimate to him? To him the most intimate acts were intellectual. Only one physical act came to mind. He withdrew his arm from around Jim and turned so he was lying on his side. They were facing each other and the fact that they were lying down meant they were looking straight into each other’s eyes directly across from themselves, their positions on the bed didn’t acknowledge any height difference. Sherlock was lying on his right side and Jim was lying on his left, he mused at the accident of the fact that they would be doing this with their weaker hands.

Sherlock reached out his left hand and placed it on the side of Jim’s head. He gently pulled Jim’s head closer, Jim’s face plainly showing his confusion, to his till their foreheads touched. “Now your mind is as close to mine as it could ever be, traumatic brain injury notwithstanding.” Jim snorted and then reached his right hand to place behind the base of Sherlock’s skull.

They lay like that, appreciating the silence. Laying there enjoying the sensation of their minds touching until they dozed off.   

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is basically me vomiting up a bunch of my reasons for why this pairing is perfection and why it's not as scary or dangerous as much of the fandom would have you believe.


End file.
